Children Again
by ami-chan200
Summary: This is an AU crossover between the ATF and Little Britches AUs, based on a previously written fic. Vin and JD adults find themselves in an alternative reality as children.
1. Children Again

This was inspired by Angie's fic"Alternate Universe", to find it go to blackraptor dot net, click on "Magnificent Seven General Audience" and then scroll down 'til you find the pics of all seven guys on the side and click on the one that says "Vin" and look under "A" (near the bottom of the page) for "Alternate Universe" to find her it; it's best to read her fic first otherwise this won't make much sense (as I couldn't find any sequels I will assume there were none). This is an AU cross over – ATF/Little Britches and is the flip side of the previously mentioned fic. Oh, and my Vin is a bit on the interesting side (meaning different from other, typical ATF Vins) with me taking my usual liberties here and there, but he seemed to think it was a good idea. Lol Usually my Ezra's the drama queen, but not this time! WARNING: implied child abuse ahead.

Children Again

by Ami-chan

He remembered the explosion, the smell of smoke, the lights and then – nothing. Vin heard himself growl low in his throat and he paused at the sound; the growl wasn't nearly as deep as it should have been, but he wasn't overly concerned about that. His head was pounding as it had been kicked by a horse and then kicked again, just for good measure. It was a very bad feeling, a fuckin' shitty feeling if he's ever felt one. Distantly he heard a shout and frowned because it sounded like Chris and why was he shouting and…

A scream tore through his throat as he bolted up, thinking that he was still trapped in the burning warehouse and that he had to get to safety and finding that he was falling. Onto a soft carpeted floor. And there was no smoke anywhere. And damnit why did this room look vaguely familiar and why the hell was it covered in toys with cowboys and horses on the wall as if it were for a child? And what was it that he had fallen from!

Vin glanced behind him and saw a bunk bed, from which he had apparently fallen from the top of. Except why had he been up there and why wasn't he in a hospital and had Ezra and JD gotten all right as well?

"Hey, Cowboy, you all right?" He turned to find Chris looking down at him, more genuine emotion on his face than he could ever recall seeing before; he was definitely concerned.

"Yeah, sure, Chris. I fall from bunk beds all the time. So just what the hell are we doing here anyway and why…?" he paused, watching Chris's eyes widen in shock. Chris looked… taller than usual. Bigger. Vin glanced down at his own hands and frowned. In glancing down he spotted the clothing he was wearing, pajamas. Pajamas with what appeared to be a cowboy type doll on it. Children's pajamas, which was about the last time he had worn pajamas. "Gawd damn."

His attention was drawn back to Chris as the man frowned. "Don't use that kind of language, ya hear me? Gotta tell Buck to watch what he says." He was shaking his head as he reached for him. REACHED for him!

Vin jerked away violently before Chris could touch him. Chris was not a touchy feely person so just what the hell was he doing? If he hadn't been confused before, he sure as hell was confused now! "Somethin' wrong son?"

"Yes there is something wrong and I sure as hell ain't yer son!" He paused as a sudden, hurt look crossed Chris's face and he found himself growling in frustration. A high growl, a child's growl. "Ah fuck." Vin turned and stalked the length of the room, ignoring the toys and the bed and everything around him. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this. There had to be.

"There a problem here?"

Vin's head shot up and his eyes latched onto another familiar face. Yes, Buck would help him! "Buck! There is something seriously screwed here. I'm – I don't know what I am! It's like I've shrunk and what the hell is wrong with Chris and – and why are you looking at me like that?" No help from Buck then. The lanky agent looked at him as if he had grown a tail and cat ears over night.

"Ya feelin' all right, kid?" Buck approached him slowly, as if not to startle him and reached out to put a hand on his head. It never made it to its destination; Vin smacked it away angrily and resumed swearing and pacing, vaguely aware of the astonished faces of the men watching him.

Then, suddenly, Vin was stopped. Two hands were placed firmly on his shoulders and blue eyes were piercing him coldly. That was the Chris he knew! "You stop that right now, you hear? I won't have you saying those words, especially in front of JD. If you have a problem you tell me, but I won't have you swearing."

That was not the Chris he knew. "What do you mean 'in front of JD'? What does that have to do with – " a soft sound, a groan, caught all of their attentions and they turned to the bunk bed's bottom bunk where a small figuring was uncurling itself. Vin's jaw dropped as he stared at the small boy that was so familiar and yet so utterly unfamiliar. "JD? What the hell?"

JD blinked his eyes a couple of times before shrieking in a painfully high voice, "You're a fucking kid!"

"So are you! Buck and Chris are acting psycho, so no help there. What happened at the warehouse? There was that explosion, but I don't remember anymore than that."

"We must have made it out okay," JD stated, his gaze darting from Chris to Buck over Vin's shoulder – the two men were sure looking at them funny, "But I don't know. Shouldn't we be at the hospital or something? And where's Ezra? What happened to him?"

JD made a soft grunting sound as he was whisked off his feet and into the air. "What are you talkin' about there, Little Bit?"

One of JD's eyebrows shot up questioningly. "'Little Bit'? Oh my god. I think I've just been insulted." He glanced at the large man holding him and his currently very small stature. "Though, admittedly, I'm not that big at the moment, but – Vin? Is this really real?"

A classic scowl was on Vin's face, one he usually reversed for tough problems and people he really hated, as he responded, "I'm afraid so, 'Little Bit'."

"That is so not funny." JD sighed at the bewildered expression on Buck's face. "Would you mind putting me down? This is making me really uncomfortable. I mean, I like you and all, but this is all a bit much, don't you think, especially so suddenly when I'm still trying to get used to this all?" He was set down, slowly, carefully.

"Chris, what happened to our boys?"

The ATF team leader was shaking his head. "Dunno, Buck. Don't rightly know. Maybe we should make an appointment with Dr. Will."

"Yeah. I'll call us off work. Don't think we want 'em going to school like this." Buck gazed at the two boys in front of him and they gazed right back and for some reason they looked nothing like the children he could clearly see they were. Except, with the light hitting them just so it almost seemed as if they were bigger, older. No, that was just a trick of the light. Yeah. "You call on the home phone, I'll call on my cell phone."

Chris readily agreed and turned to retrieve the nearest phone, hoping that Dr. Will could squeeze them in today. He had been worried when Vin hadn't let him touch him, but now he didn't know what to think! Things had been going so well and now this. Whatever 'this' was!

As Buck and Chris moved off to place their separate calls the two now-children began talking amongst themselves. "What do you think could have happened, JD? Some sort of accident that made us little and made everyone else believe we were supposed to be this way?"

"Maybe it was like time travel or dimensional shifting."

Vin rolled his eyes. "You might want to lay off the sci-fi, huh? It seems more likely that it was some chemical reaction to the warehouse explosion. It has to be because of what happened, though. Something triggered this return to childhood shit."

"So, what, an explosion is a more reasonable explanation?" JD mocked lightly. "Like a veritable fountain of youth only you have to nearly get your head blown off instead of just taking a sip of some special water? Sure, if it was that much fun than everyone would want to be getting blown up!"

"Well, maybe that's why no one's discovered the real fountain of youth. After all you wouldn't think that nearly killin' ya would make ya young again. Though I seriously do not want to stay like this and Chris an' Buck ain't gonna be any help there."

They both lapsed into silence when Buck reentered the room. For some time nothing was said, then Buck offered, "Breakfast will be ready soon. How about you two get dressed and we'll eat and decide what to do from there?"

"What and miss the opportunity to see Vin in his cute Woody pjs?

Vin shot JD a glare as he asked, "Woody? What are you talking about?"

"Woody. The cowboy, Cowboy. Don't tell me you've never seen 'Toy Story'! With Buzz Lightyear of the Star Command?" He giggled as Vin gave him an exasperated look. "Hey, I swear it wasn't my doing – Buck wanted to see it, but I'm sure he'd deny it if you asked."

The older boy was muttering darkly to himself as he tore off the small shirt with the ridiculous cartoon cowboy on it. "So… clothes?" He glanced at JD first and when he shrugged he reluctantly turned his attention to Buck, who was still watching them in confusion. "I'm going to need the proper attire here as I seem to be a mini-Vin. If you could point me toward the right direction I am going to do my best to find something clean, plain, and cartoon-free."

"You're no fun, mini-Vin," JD mocked. "It's kinda like 'mini-me' only mini us!"

"Shut up, JD."

Those words stirred Buck back to reality. "Hey, now, don't say things like that. It's not nice." Then he paused, as if still considering something. "Neither of you remembers where your clothes are kept?"

"I remember where my clothes are, but since I'm not in my body or my home – no, I do not know where the pint-sized clothing is kept." Vin glared at him unhappily, watching as Buck slowly crossed the room and opened a few dresser drawers. He followed, JD trailing behind.

After a careful once over of the shirts within the drawer, Vin selected a plain blue shirt – JD immediately snatched it out of his hands, tsking about his lack of imagination and tossed a different shirt over his head. When Vin could see again he glanced down at a shirt with a fat little fish on it. "What is this, JD?"

There was an offended gasp. "You mean you haven't seen 'Finding Nemo' either? Vin! You have got to live a little." He had Buck help him locate the Vin-sized pants and threw a pair at him that matched reasonably well. After heaving a deep sigh Vin changed into them as JD picked out his own clothing, something cute, or so he said.

When Vin glanced up again he found JD was fully dressed. "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too?"

"So you do know at least that cartoon. I guess you aren't so bad after all."

Vin rolled his eyes. "That's because Winnie the Pooh is older than God and everyone knows who they are whether they want to know or not." He reached out and smacked JD on the back of the head before he could move to avoid it. An "ow" of annoyance was his reward.

Then: "Vincent Michael Tanner, what do you think you are doing hitting JD like that?" 'Mother' Chris was standing in the doorway glaring down at him.

"Uh-oh, Vin, sounds like you're in trouble." JD was grinning maliciously. "You're middle name is 'Michael', huh? I'm gonna have to remember that." JD threw himself at Buck and the mustached man automatically reached down to pick him up. "Breakfast ready?" he asked cheerfully.

Vin muttered something along the lines of, "You little suck-up," under his breath as he watched the two depart, only to be faced with this strangely emotional Chris Larabee.

"What has gotten into you today, Vin? You know if you ever have any problems you can talk to me, no matter what they are. Right?" Chris's concern was starting to eat away at him. He wouldn't have minded, really, he wouldn't have, if he had been himself and not this tiny version of himself; he had hated his childhood before and he didn't want to repeat it now! Not with Chris as his – what was he? His _daddy?_

"If you're gonna hit me just do it and get it over with." The hurt that radiated off the man before him stuck Vin worse than any physical blow could have. What had he said wrong? If Chris thought he was a kid, well, wasn't the way he had been acting, let alone the things he had said add up to that?

He gasped softly as he found himself enfolded in large, comforting arms and for a moment, despite his small size and relative weakness he felt safe and secure. A feeling he was unfamiliar with. "I would never hit you, Vin. Ever. Do you hear me? That's not something I would – Vin?" Chris pulled back a bit to get a good look at him. "Did someone used to hit you? Before?"

Two steps back and with distance between them, Vin could breathe again. "You mentioned breakfast?" he inquired, moving toward the door and away from that line of conversation. He heard the sigh and could imagine the disappointment on Chris's face, but he kept walking. "This is the ranch."

"What?"

He hadn't meant for Chris to hear him. "Nothin'. Just, we're at the ranch." And he had never seen the room they had been in before – or well, he had, but not the way it had been decorated. Vin was aware of the fact that he felt less than his best and that his head was definitely protesting, but he pushed that aside. He needed a clear head to deal with whatever was going on here.

"Where else would we be?" But Chris's question was ignored and Vin made it to the table without further incident. Except that at the table Vin discovered that breakfast consisted of eggs, toast, and milk, only one of which he would actually put past his lips. He asked for water, instead, and Buck readily retrieved some for him. He munched on the toast while attempting not to look at the eggs or even watch anyone else eating them.

"You haven't even touched your eggs." Chris was studying him closely and Vin resisted the urge to sigh. Instead, he wrinkled up his nose in distaste.

"I'm a vegan. I don't eat eggs."

JD's surprise easily covered up the other's with his loud, "What? Really? I didn't know that! Since when?"

"'Least a decade now. Surprised none of y'all ever noticed." He finished his toast and sipped at his water, pointedly pushing the plate and its remaining unappetizing contents away.

"That must be why you're so damned skinny! All this time and I just thought you liked salads."

Vin shook his head. "I do, JD. That's part of being a vegan. That and the detest of all forms of animal cruelty and exploitation, which includes not eating chicken fetuses."

JD, who had been taking a drink of his milk, snorted in surprise, white liquid shooting out of his nose. He was laughing hysterically. "Chicken fetuses! Oh, my! That's a good one!"

"That's what they are." Vin had no idea what was so funny and apparently Chris and Buck hadn't a clue, either. Well, he couldn't tell what Buck thought as he was attempting to clean up JD who had gotten milk all over himself. Soon Buck was leading the boy away to get a new shirt while Chris came back to life and began cleaning up the table and chair where JD had been sitting. They were, the both of them, in full parent-mode. Vin found it slightly disturbing.

When JD returned, milk-free and in a Bugs Bunny t-shirt, Buck suggested that they go play. JD grinned in amusement while Vin looked horrified at the suggestion. "Go play?" he demanded. He almost asked if they looked like children, but stopped himself just in time. It would be ridiculous to say such a thing as they most certainly looked like children. Instead he said, "Give me an M82 sniper rifle and I'll play all right."

"M82?" JD asked in surprise. "I thought you liked the M82A1 rifles?"

"Nah, the M82A1M is better, but I'm actually rather fond of the M107. Still, I like the M82. It just depends, ya know?"

"On the conditions, the target, and your mood. Yeah, I know. In theory. They've never let me have anything beyond the regulation handguns, after all." JD turned to look up into Buck's frowning face and clearly read the confusion there. "I've never killed anyone, though. Not like Vin. He's killed lots of people!"

Vin rolled his eyes. "Ya know, I don't think that's helping any."

"Is that true, Cowboy?"

Why was Chris looking at him like a kicked puppy, damnit? Where was his strong, tough boss, huh? Did the guy just melt in front of a child's blue eyes? "Hell, Chris, you know I have. Don't look at me like that. It's what a sniper is supposed to do. It's not like they were innocent targets or anything and it was by order of the U.S. Government and now in the line of duty as an ATF agent. Granted, now it's more of a 'injury first if possible' policy, but people still die."

Chris and Buck exchanged glances over his head. "ATF agent? U.S. government? What do you mean?"

"Vin was an army ranger. Now he's the sniper for Team Seven under AD Travis. I'm the computer specialist for Team Seven. And you've just entered the Twilight Zone." JD yelped when Vin smacked him none too gently. "Hey! What was that for?"

"The Twilight Zone? Come on, JD, they'll think you've gone nuts."

The smaller boy shrugged. "They already think that so what's the big deal? You know this all just might be some strange dream or some group delusion that will end soon so why not have fun? Vincent Tanner, express your inner child!"

Vin groaned and lowered his head. "I don't have an inner child, JD and if I ever did I killed it a long time ago. Talk to me about spirit guides, but don't give me that 'inner child' BS."

"You sound awfully cranky. Maybe you need a nap." JD fled behind Buck when it appeared as if Vin would strike him. And the warning, "Viin" stopped any potential lashing out, though only barely. He watched as JD snuggled up against Buck, clinging to his leg in a decidedly childish manner. "Daddy," he whined, "Vin's bein' mean!"

A strangled gasp escaped Vin. "'Daddy'? '_Daddy'_? You perverted little – " A hand on his shoulder silenced him and he sent a threatening look JD's way while the other miniature ATF agent stuck his tongue out at him. He'd always known JD acted like a kid, but this was ridiculous.

JD turned his wide, deceptively innocent eyes on him. "What, Vin? Don't you want Chris to be your daddy?" If not for the slightly wicked smile curling his lips it all might have been a simple question from a child; only JD was no more a child than he was and the very implications of that made Vin's blood boil. He then found himself ensconced in Chris's arms and he forcibly relaxed every muscle in his body. Maybe JD had the right idea about just going with the flow and yet if they didn't tell anyone how would they ever get back to their normal selves?

Soon they were being loaded into the back seat of a car. Buck placed JD in a child's safety seat, to which JD exclaimed, "Wow! Never thought I'd fit in one of these again." One glance at the seat and Vin was glad he didn't have to be in it and had they tried to get him into one he would have bitten them. "Where are we going?"

"To see Dr. Will, remember? He said we could all have a session together."

Vin and JD eyed each other, both of them clueless. "Who is Dr. Will and why would we be having a 'session' together? What kind of doctor is he?"

"Boys, you've been to see Dr. Will many times. Don't you remember him?"

"No," Vin said as JD dutifully reported, "I've never heard of him." When they pulled into the parking lot and saw the sign they understood. "A shrink?"

"No, Vin, a child therapist. The sign does not say 'shrink'. So now you can confess all your deepest darkest secrets! Like how all those bad men touched you – "

The car that had been pulling into a parking place halted abruptly as Chris slammed on the breaks, jerking them all forward sharply. "What? Is that true? Vin? JD?"

JD's eyes nearly doubled in size as he faced down mama bear Chris, angry in defense of his cub. "Chris, you're scarin' them. Let's talk about this more inside, all right?" Reason slowly returned to Chris and he tensely finished parking the car.

When Buck went to retrieve JD, the miniature agent clung to him fiercely. "Did I say something bad? Vin said I wasn't supposed to tell nobody, but it's okay now right? That was before!"

"JD you shut up right now!" Vin's protest was cut off as he was lifted to Chris's hip, the man cradling him protectively to his side. Shit. Why had JD gone and said that for?

"You didn't say anything wrong, JD. Vin's just upset by it. It's fine to say that now, it might help things along." The soft tone of Buck's voice just made Vin bristle all the more. He was going to kill that half-pint as soon as Chris put him down! Chris didn't appear to want to leave his side, but the receptionist said she would keep an eye on them while he and Buck talked to this Dr. Will fellow.

That was his chance. "JD, why did you say that for? What were you thinking?"

"I was kidding! I didn't think they would take it so seriously. I am interested to know what they think about what happened to us and how we ended up with them in the first place. I mean, Chris and Buck and us all living together, only we are children? What does that mean?"

Vin shook his head. "Nothing I want to think on too deeply."

All too soon they were called back into the jaws of death – er, into the blissful land of child/family therapy. JD, caught up in re-living happy childhood memories shrieked, "LEGOS!" and ran across the room to the toys to begin playing. He was asked to bring the legos closer to where everyone else was and he quickly complied, grinning in contentment. Vin wanted to strangle him all the more. They were mature adults. They did NOT play with legos!

Dr. Will's attention focused onto Vin, much to his dismay. "I hear you've been having some difficulties today. Would you like to tell me what's been happening?"

Vin's eyes hardened, his mouth thinning into a harsh line.

"He had a bad dream," JD chirped, regardless of whether it was true or not. He was taking this pretending thing way too far!

"Is that true, Vin? Did you have a bad dream that made you upset?"

"NO!"

JD, still snapping legos into place in a seemingly random manner, replied, "Yes you did. It was about those bad men again and how they – "

"Shut up already, JD!" He might have lunged across the table at JD if not for the sudden presence of Chris at his side, patting his arm and keeping him in place. He cursed darkly, though quietly.

"Daddy said we could talk about it now. That it'd help." JD looked every inch the indignant child and, god, they believe him too! Every time he opened his mouth they believed him and thought that he, Vin, was lying. Great! "I wasn't supposed to watch, though, he said I couldn't, but I could still hear it and they hurt him bad and he would cry."

Vin was practically foaming at the mouth. He went limp at the sound of Chris asking softly, "JD, you said before, when we first saw you that Vin told you nothing was for free and that you were too little to give them what they wanted for – for food or anything else. Was that why? Vin?" Then he tuned out all of them, the doctor, Chris, JD, and Buck who was still sitting there silently watching. It helped that his vision blurred, but he didn't realize it was because of tears until the first one dropped onto his hand.

Legos crashed to the ground. "Vin? I'm sorry! I didn't mean it," JD directed to the adults in the room before saying more loudly, nearly in tears himself, "I lied! I made it all up! Please don't cry!" He was caught up and held by Buck before he could charge over to Vin's side. It had only been a joke, but apparently he had taken it too far. He never thought he'd see the day when Vin Tanner cried and now he wished he hadn't; the guilt was horrible!

For a moment Vin thought to pull himself out of Chris's arms, but he found he didn't have the strength for that. They talked around him for a while until he had quieted down and had released the hold he had on Chris. "You all right there, Cowboy?"

"JD did lie, but he also said some truths, too, even if he didn't know it. I am not a child. I am nearly twenty-eight years olds and I'm a sharpshooter for the ATF and by your disbelieving looks I am going to assume I am not very convincing." He straightened himself up a bit, unable to remember when Chris had pulled him into his lap, but comfortable there all the same.

"So, you're part of the ATF?" Dr. Will asked. "When did you start that?"

Vin couldn't help but grin; of course they didn't believe him. "Nearly four years ago, now. When I was eighteen, straight out of high school I joined the U.S. army's rangers because I had no where else to go and the people I was staying with at the time could have cared less about me. That's where I honed my skills as a professional killer."

"Who were you staying with before you turned eighteen?"

He shrugged. "Some random foster parents. I never stayed long in one place because they labeled me as a trouble maker, when I really wasn't. I just wasn't too keen on getting beat or starved or molested. So I'd run if it got too bad, they'd catch me of course, try to keep me in line, throw me into another place that might be better or might be worse than the last and I'd end up runnin' again. Got to be a pattern. There was stability in the rangers, though and then the ATF."

"Do you go to school anywhere now?"

Vin snorted. "I'm twenty-eight years old. No." He turned in Chris's arms. "I am sorry I'm not whoever you think I am. I'm not a child. This is all really out there, I know, and there's nothing more that I want than to be myself again."

"When's your birthday, Vin?" the therapist was asking gently, trying to show the boy that he was only pretending in an attempt to distance himself from what had happened to him in the past. When Vin gave the correct day and month everything seemed fine. Until he gave the year. Dr. Will scribbled it down and tracked the date backwards, determining that it was the correct year – for a twenty-seven soon-to-be twenty-eight year old. "JD, when's your birthday?" Again, the response was the correct day and month, but the wrong year. "And how old are you, JD?" Surely the boy was too young to figure out that!

"Twenty-three. Yeah, I know it's odd, but I'm not a sniper, in case you were wondering. I'm the computer specialist for the ATF's Team Seven so I don't see much action. Except this last time Josiah was waiting in the surveillance vehicle and we were all searching the warehouse when there was anexplosion."

"We were investigating a gun-running operation when it happened. Ez covered JD and I tried to shield 'em both, then I don't know what went down. There was a loud noise, lights, smoke and then I woke up as you see me now. A child, sleeping on a bunk bed, which I promptly fell off of." Vin knew they weren't buying it and he sagged back against Chris. He wasn't sure he would have believed him had he been in any one of their shoes.

The therapist still smiled at him gently. "Tell me about the warehouse. Had you ever been there before?"

Both boys shook their heads. "Nope. We were just doing our jobs, searching the area. The explosion was unexpected."

JD wailed suddenly and clutched at his head and immediately Buck was trying to sooth him, brushing back his hair. Then he paused and placed his hand against JD's forehead. "You feeling all right there Little Bit?" To Chris he said, "He's awfully hot."

"Fever?" Chris asked as his own hand sought Vin's forehead. "Vin too. You should have told us you weren't feeling well."

"Head hurts," JD mumbled. "Did we get hit with something in the warehouse, Vin?"

"Dunno, could be."

The session with Dr. Will ended and the boys were hurried to see Dr. Two Eagles who decided that they were badly off enough that they should stay at the hospital for observation. Nathan, hearing that both Vin and JD had been admitted to the hospital, checked in on them after work while the boys continued ranting about not being children, that they were ATF officers and what had happened in the warehouse and was Ezra okay? It wasn't until Ezra actually showed up the next day along with Josiah and Nathan – they had called them all, but especially Ezra to ask him to come, hoping that would calm down Vin and JD down – that the boys got any restful sleep at all.

Another day passed with the boys still in the hospital and five anxious men looking in on them every chance that they got. When they were all gathered outside of the boys' hospital rooms, having a momentary break to recharge themselves by drinking lots of coffee in an attempt to keep them a bit more alert, Chris and Buck finally were able to explain what had happened that first day, two days passed. They told them about Vin and JD's change of attitude and the stories that they had made up and most of all the horrifying revelation they had discovered about what exactly had happened to Vin on the streets.

"Dr. Will seems to think that it's a combination of the fever and Vin's desire to keep everything that happened to him bottled up to make him create this reality," Chris was explaining to the newly arrived Josiah as well as Ezra and Nathan.

Buck was nodding in agreement. "Like, if he was a adult it wouldn't be so bad what happened to him. He also suggested that since we saved him from the warehouse and are taking care of him that he wanted to be one of us, an ATF member, someone strong."

"Doesn't change what happened." Chris's voice was gruff, but it was from unshed tears, and not out of meanness. "I had hoped – even with what JD had suggested… I tried to forget it, because I didn't want it to have happened to him." He cleared his throat and no one mentioned the tears glistening in his eyes as they were all experiencing the same problem. "But – but Dr. Will says it's a good breakthrough for him and that maybe we'll get everything out in the open so that he can deal with it. Better now than years down the road when even more problems might crop up."

"Yeah. He said that it was likely that JD was going along with the delusion for Vin's sake so that he wouldn't feel so alone and that the first story he told was likely the true one." Buck took a steadying breath. "It explains why Vin was so angry yesterday, though. Never heard him swear like that before, but it was a bit unusual that a kid that had been on the streets so long hadn't picked up some bad language somewhere."

A soft sound, a whined, "Da," had Buck moving toward the room where JD had been placed in, obviously glad that JD was back to calling him that instead of "daddy" or just "Buck". JDwas quiet, but more alert and coherent than he had been and there was no trace at all of the strange vocabulary or ATF references that there had been before. They left Buck alone with JD and proceed to Vin's room to make sure he was doing all right. Roughly a half an hour later Vin began to stir again,the word, "Dad?" on his lips.

That one small word made everything all right again. Chris could face anything, any problems, any nightmares, any pretend games or fend offany enemies real or imagined for that one small word. Everything was looking up again.

-The End-

Note: There were references to a fic in here (the part where Chris mentions what JD said before) but I don't remember what the fic was called or who it was by. There are quite a few fics out there that explain the first time adults Chris and Buck meet little Vin and JD, but that version was the freshest in my mind so I used that.

I also have a Two-Blood AU fic that I'll post eventually, but I would like to get caught up on a few of my chapter fics first. That's why I made this one a one-shot! I just got it down to eight chapter fics and I do not need another one banging around!


	2. Ezra Version

Right. So I'm going to put the full addy for the fic "Alternate Universes" in a review for this chapter. No one's asked for it yet, but I'll put it up anyway just in case (I know the directions were probably confusing and annoying, but since ffdotnet won't let addies show up in chapters… this will have to do.

Next order of business: this chapter has NO CONNECTION to the previous chapter– it is still based on Angie's fic, only these two AUs are entirely separate. The concept is that because this AU switching happened in two universes, it caused a disturbance in two completely different universes as well (there will be no little Vin or JD; the only one changing will be Ezra). I always questioned the "what about Ezra" thing, but since it wasn't in the original concept I wasn't going to attempt it. Since I got reviews suggesting that and since I was already thinking about it anyway, here it is…

Children (er... Child)Again: Ezra Version

by Ami-chan

The warehouse had turned up nothing at all. They had hoped something would show up, but there had been no luck whatsoever. Ezra was extremely bored now and was contemplating what he was going to do for lunch as it was well past noon and he was rather hungry. He'd yet to eat – he was not a morning person and even if he had been he simply couldn't stomach eating in the mornings anyway – so the sooner they decided that yes, there really was nothing of interest here, the better.

That's when the strangest thing happened. He felt a sharp pain rush through him as if a blunt object had stuck him suddenly and his vision went completely black.

Groggily he began to come around, wondering why he had the feeling that his head had exploded and been put back together again. He heard voices, loud voices, vaguely in the distance, but whatever they were saying didn't make any sense to him at all. He became aware of something hard and unyielding pressed against his back and side and when he managed to pry open his eyes he recognized the "thing" as a "wall". It felt cold against him and Ezra couldn't decide if that was good or bad. Before he could, however, the voices got louder.

A large hand wrapped around his shirt and dragged him to his feet. What? Some sort of giant? He was being asked something, but he couldn't find the presence of mind to concentrate on the words enough to understand what was being asked, let along form any sort of response. Apparently that was not a good thing. He was shaken, several times, and he was fairly sure the hands that were wrapped around his arms were going to bruise – he'd always bruised very easily anyway.

He was hauled from the room and Ezra began to wonder if it was his imagination or if a woman really was screaming and if she was, why? That's when he was slammed into something rather hard and sharp. For a moment the word "table" flashed through his mind and then everything went black again.

When Ezra came to yet again he knew that there was definitely a woman talking to him, cooing over him softly, "Sweetie, darling, you know if you just talked at all it would be a lot better, don't you? If you just said something? It doesn't have to be like this, Tom wouldn't get so angry, you know?"

For a moment when he opened his eyes, he was sure she was some sort of giant and though he was fairly sure he hadn't climbed any beanstalks or taken any shrinking potions lately, that was the best his addled mind could come up with. Then it began to sink in that she wasn't a giant. Ezra was just very small. As soon as his dizziness had passed he pushed himself away from her and wandered through the halls of the unfamiliar house until he happened across what looked like a bathroom. The mirror over the sink was too high for him to see into, but he managed to unsteadily crawl up onto the sink and stare at his own reflection.

A pint-sized Ezra stared back at him and all the horrifying memories from his childhood came flowing into his mind. He had no idea where he was or who he was with. Oh, little feathered gods, he was in deep shit. What was he going to do now? He had to get out of here – what had happened? He needed to find someone – someone – who? There was only one real answer to that.

Making sure no one was around to see him, he snuck out the door. It seemed to be the back door, but as it lead outside it hardly mattered. He made his way to the sidewalk outside without incident and hurriedly trotted over to the corner and looked up. He knew that street sign, knew the coloring, the words. Ezra Standish knew exactly where he was. He was still in Denver, which meant that it was possible that he was the only one affected by whatever malady had overcome him.

Which meant it was all the more important that he find Chris Larabee and figure out what the hell was going on! However, it was a long walk to his ranch and he had no money for a cab fare. Or, to be more precise, he had no money at all.

Ezra took a deep breath. He wasn't going to let something like an impossibly long walk get to him. But, he had no plan and nothing of value. Turning his attention back to the unfamiliar house he crept back inside and found a small child's backpack. An exploration of the kitchen found bottle water and apples, which he quickly stuffed inside. Nosing around a bit more he found a jar of change and a few small bills and took a good deal of it before heading right back out on silent, careful feet.

He located the nearest bus stop and waited. After taking the bus to the stop nearest the direction to the ranch he got off and began trudging in the right direction. The farther out he got the more important it was for him not to be visible on the road – a child walking along a sidewalk in front of a house wasn't unusual, but a child walking all by himself in the middle of nowhere was. Ezra kept the road in sight, knowing very well how easily he might get lost without any visible markers.

He made no stops along the way, though he drank some of the water at intervals to keep himself hydrated. Ezra found he was not in the least bit hungry. Something about blacking out multiple times and changing into a child had made him lose his appetite. Despite his pace it was full dark by the time he stumbled across the familiar turnoff to Chris's ranch. Every part of him ached, but he managed to crawl to the front door and reach up to ring the doorbell before he crumpled onto the doorstop.

When the door opened he lifted his head and saw the confusion on Chris's face at the apparent lack of anyone who might have rung his doorbell. Ezra made a sound. It was barely a squeak because he felt too tired to articulate himself properly, but it was enough. Chris jumped in surprise and stared down at him for a long time. Didn't Chris recognize him? Hadn't he wondered what had happened? Oh, why wasn't his mind functioning correctly?

"Kid." Then Chris was reaching down and picking him up. He whined softly, his body protesting and then he simply went limp against him. It was nice being held and comforted when he was so utterly confused and lost and – had Chris called him KID? "Hey, you hungry?"

Ezra mustered enough energy to shake his head no. If he ate anything he was very certain he would only throw it up again.

"Let's get you cleaned up first and then maybe you'll be hungry, all right?" Ezra found himself being settled into a plush chair that was much larger than he remembered it being before and only half heard Chris mention something about a bath. It did sound good. He felt itchy all over. Stupid grass and trees and the evils of the outdoors – it made him wonder why anyone would enjoy camping at all unless they were masochists. He heard the water running and then Chris's voice again, speaking softly, which was what caught his attention so quickly. "Yes, Nettie, I know what time it is and I'm sorry to disturb you, but you remember that kid? Yeah… well, he just showed up at my house." Pause. "Yeah, I know. I have no idea either." Pause. "Yeah, that will be fine. All right. See you in the morning."

So now he was a kid that some lady named Nettie was supposed to know? Who was this Nettie? He hoped, very much so, that she wasn't the lady he had seen before. He had no desire to go back there with that horrid man that had likely left very painful bruises on him.

He'd almost fallen asleep by the time Chris had returned, but the sound of footsteps made him force himself into some semblance of awareness. Distantly he heard Chris mention a bath again and he was once more picked up. Ezra winced a bit as his bruised skin was accidentally touched though he was far too tired to protest much. It occurred to him that he should attempt to undress himself except that the minute he was set down he swayed precariously on his feet. Had he been more awake he would have been appalled by the fact that Chris Larabee, his _boss_, was going to help him take a bath. Except that he was a child at the moment. Did that make a difference? Minor details.

A sharp in take of breath made Ezra force his eyes to focus on Chris, who was staring at him. Or, rather, staring at his back. Chris forced a smile when he noticed his gaze, then lifted him into the tub. Ezra could have died then and been perfectly happy, the warm water was impossibly soothing. He took a moment to appreciate the fact that Chris was washing all the dirt and grime off of him and decided that his son must have been one lucky boy. Having never had any real father figure (or at least not one he could look up to or respect), it was surprisingly nice –

He mentally smacked himself. Chris was his boss! He was not going to have "daddy" fantasizes now, not about him. Hell, he wasn't even gay! But, it wasn't about being gay at all, it was about having someone he could trust, someone he didn't mind taking care of him. Hadn't Chris done that to him before when he had been injured on the job? Hadn't he been there in the past when he thought no one else had given a damn?

"Did someone hurt you?" It was asked softly, as if not wanting to alarm him. Not that Ezra was all that alarmed, not being conscious enough to be alarmed. He nodded his head as he fought off a yawn. "Was it your foster parents?"

Foster parents? He'd never had foster parents, but he nodded again, figuring Chris had a better idea what was going on in this reality than he did. Hm… child abuse and apparently to a fairly high degree as he recognized the maniacal gleam that had entered Chris's eyes. When he was lifted out of the tub he whimpered. His back did hurt and not just from being thrown against a table. What was the full extent of the evidence and what exactly had happened to him?

Ezra had enough presence of mind to register the fact that he was being dressed again. In a child's pajamas and since he hadn't brought any of his own clothing – which would have been difficult considering he wouldn't have known what was his or where it might be in that strange house – he had to assume they had been Adam's. Had Chris kept his son's clothing then? Sarah's too? He wondered.

It was still nighttime when he awoke in a large, somewhat familiar bed. He was in Chris's guest room, though the bed was much, much larger than he remembered it being before. A sudden fear seized him and he crawled out of the bed, not wanting to be alone. A childish fear, but since he was a child he could act upon it. Somehow that led him into Chris's room and to his bed. It wasn't surprising when Chris's eyes flashed open abruptly when he felt eyes on him; he'd always suspected he was as paranoid as Ezra was and hence a very light sleeper.

"Hey. You all right?" His voice was rough with sleep and the sound, for some reason, comforted him. When Chris turned back the covers in clear invitation, Ezra crawled readily up onto the bed and curled up against him like a small cat seeking warmth and affection. He was asleep again within moments.

It was the soft murmur of a one-sided conversation that stirred him from his surprisingly deep slumber. Once more Ezra was alone and he dragged himself up and to the hallway to better catch the words being said. There weren't many, but they were telling. "…did they? Well, he still isn't talking and I'm not surprised. Nettie, it looks like someone hurt him – " Pause. "Yeah. We know he didn't have those before in the warehouse. Not a mark on him. Doctors examined him." Pause. "Looked like he'd been slammed into something – a few somethings. There was also something that, well, it looked like a belt had hit him." Long pause. "Yeah. See you in a bit. Bye."

A belt? No wonder he felt as if a car had run over him and then backed up to hit him again for good measure. Wait. Still isn't talking? Hadn't the lady before mentioned something like that too? Was Chris Larabee implying that… what? He was incapable of talking? Or that he hadn't talked to anyone yet? Or that he had taken some vow of silence recently? Ezra was inclined to go with "hadn't talked to anyone yet", after all Chris had yet to address him by name.

When he judged it was safe he made his way into the kitchen, absently wondering how sleep tousled he looked and if it made him look as cute as it must have for Chris to smile like that so that his whole face lit up. "You hungry?" Ezra nodded. "How do pancakes sound to you?" He nodded again. Food in general sounded good, his stomach painfully reminding him that he hadn't eaten recently.He couldthrow out histypical no breakfast thing for one day.He hadn't even had lunch – well, he hadn't before when he was an adult… he wasn't sure, actually. "What would you like to drink? Milk, orange juice… "

He rambled through a few choices and Ezra thought about it carefully. He was sure his voice worked. It had to. "Orange juice, please." Yes, yes of course it did. Damn, he forgot how girly his voice had sounded as a child. Chris's reaction was worth it, though; he jumped as if he'd stunned him with a taser.

"Right. Here you go." The orange juice was placed in front of him. Chris was watching him closely as if he were a dog about to do a trick. Speak, Ezra, speak! Good boy!

"Thank you." Ezra sat patiently, sipping his drink, and before he knew it, there were pancakes set before for him. He'd never thought that Chris might be particularly domestic, as it were, but it was possible that he was. Just a little. Or a lot, he thought, after he'd actually started to eat. Who would have thought that Chris could cook well? He was just finishing when there was a knock at the door and Chris went to answer it.

Nettie was an older woman and not the same one he'd seen before. She looked a bit stern, but generally nice, however if her plans included taking him away from Chris then Ezra was going to have to show her how wrong she was. If he was going to be a small, scared child he was going to do it with someone familiar nearby!

"Hi there. Nice to see you again, young man." Ezra's eyes narrowed and he growled at her. Had he felt better he might have been more tolerant, but every bit of him ached and her voice sounded rather patronizing to him. "We're going to go and get you a checkup. How does that sound?"

Ezra rolled his eyes. In other words, they were going to take pictures of the marks on his body for legal purposes. Nettie must have seen his annoyance before she added, "You won't have to go back there, all right? We'll find somewhere else to place you." Which might have been good, except that he knew exactly where he wanted to stay. He waited until she had moved toward him, however, before he fled. Right to Chris. He locked his small little arms around the man's leg and glared at Nettie.

The woman attempted to reassure him, but Ezra refused to be reassured. People always lied, didn't they? Now that he was a child he felt so damned helpless and he was not about to put his trust in this stranger.

"It will be okay. Hear me?" He turned his eyes up to look at Chris. For some reason he couldn't believe him, either. Why would Chris want to take care of an itty bitty Ezra? Not that Ezra wasn't capable of taking care of himself… to some degree. He could no longer reach the stove, however, or the high cupboards or, well, he was a bit useless wasn't he? That was why mother had left him so often until he could be of more use to her.

A hand settled on Ezra's shoulder and he screamed, evidently startling Nettie and Chris as much as he surprised himself. "It's all right, honey. We're just going to go – "

"No!" He glared at her coldly and clung more tightly to Chris's leg. Nettie's eyes immediately turned up toward Chris in silent question. He gave her a nonverbal response that Ezra missed.

Slowly the woman stood and asked Chris, softly, "Would you be willing to go along?" A second passed and Chris nodded. "How about that? What if Chris was to come along with us?"

Ezra allowed his grip to loosen marginally and he nodded. He made certain that Chris was never far away and realized the uncertainty of him actually going with them when he was strapped into the child safety seat. It wasn't until Chris got into the passenger side of Nettie's car that he finally relaxed. It wasn't that long before he went into a state of panic again. They were approaching an orphanage. As soon as he could, Ezra attached himself to Chris and refused to let go. He would not be left here!

They were greeted by friendly looking man that said he was a doctor. Ezra soon found himself in clinical setting obviously intended for children. He hated it. Chris placed him on an exam table and stepped back, waiting, leaving Ezra feeling vulnerable once more. The doctor was making small talk while Ezra drilled holes into his head with his eyes. He was asked his name, but he ignored the man. It was as if the man hadn't seemed to really expect a response – apparently Ezra had been here before. It was when the doctor, after carefully explaining what he intended to do, reached to touch him that Ezra reacted, his short finger nails lashing out and drawing blood. The man took it in stride. Ezra wondered how many times he'd scratched him in the past or if the man was just used to dealing with hostile children. He slipped off the table and went immediately to Chris, curling his small arms around his leg.

"Perhaps you, um, Mr. Larabee, could assist me?"

Ezra only barely managed to suppress a triumphant grin. 'Yes, see, only Chris can deal with me,' he thought gleefully. 'I belong with Chris not you people. Chris!' And Chris, he was sure, would have to see that, too. He was lifted onto the table again, by Chris, and he partially listened while the doctor explained, once more, what he wanted to happen. Basically, he wanted him to take his shirt off, examine him, and take pictures. Ezra wondered briefly if the room was bugged or if there was a hidden camera somewhere recording all of this. Or both.

"Come on, kid," Chris said gently as he reached out to remove his shirt for him, "This won't take long, okay?"

He distinctly disliked being called "kid". "Ezra." The room went silent immediately. Nettie, who had been shifting through some papers froze, the doctor who had been absently observing and making notes went still, and Chris paused momentarily in his efforts to look at him.

"What was that?"

He tilted his head to one side. "My name."

"Ezra." Chris looked astonished, as did the doctor and Nettie.

"What's your last name, Ezra?" the doctor butted in. Ezra pointedly ignored him so they resumed what they were doing and Ezra's shirt came off. As long as Chris remained beside him, holding his hand, Ezra stayed still and allowed the examination and the pictures to be taken. "Can you tell me how you got hurt, Ezra?"

Again, Ezra ignored the doctor. When Chris repeated the same question, however, he responded, "Which time?"

Nettie made a sharp motion in the background at the doctor to remain quiet and take notes before the man could butt in again. If they were going to get anywhere, it seemed as if Chris was the key.

"How about yesterday. What happened yesterday that made you come and find me?"

Ezra bit at his lip. He couldn't tell him that yesterday he'd been an adult with the ATF and that Chris Larabee was supposed to be his boss – they would think he was crazy and that wouldn't do. No. He could dothis. "I don't remember what happened before I blacked out the first time." Which, was the truth. He had no idea what had happened to this child version of himself before that.

"The first time?" Chris was working extremely hard to keep his voice calm and neutral, but it was obvious that he was upset and angry. "Did you black out more than once yesterday?"

He nodded slowly. "Only twice, though." It was said innocently – he had to commend himself on that and that fact that he was gaining Chris's sympathy. "I was in the corner of the room and I must have blacked out 'cuz my head hurt and everything was blurry. Sometimes I just sit there and if I stay still he doesn't notice me. But I didn't fall asleep 'cuz it hurt too much and I didn't remember what happened." Yes, that flash of horror in Chris's eyes. He couldn't leave him here now! He couldn't! "They were yelling about something. Didn't make sense, though, I didn't know what they were saying. The room was spinning too much. Then he grabbed me and I think he shook me, but I couldn't stand very well. He must have thrown me against the table after that. That's when I blacked out again."

"Who was it that hurt you? Can you tell me his name?"

Ezra wracked his brain for a moment. What had that woman said? Ah! "Tom."

Chris's eyes flickered back to Nettie, who nodded faintly at him in confirmation. Then he turned his attention back to Ezra. "How did you find your way to my house, Ezra? You've never been there before."

He hadn't? Well, damn. "Phonebook." It was the first thing that occurred to him.

"You looked up my address in the phonebook? It's pretty far out. How did you know how to get there?"

"Been out that way before. I knew what direction to go."

"Did you walk all the way there by yourself?"

He shook his head. "Took a bus part way." Then he paused, frowning. "Have to give them the rest of the money back. I didn't have any so I took some. After that, I walked."

Chris was staring at him in amazement. "You are very resourceful." Then his eyes darkened again. "What about the rest of the marks on you? Can you tell me about them?"

Ezra shrugged lightly. He couldn't, really. "He hit me." Then he added, "Tom did." He figured that was likely to be true, anyway. Then he looked up into Chris's eyes, making his eyes as wide and sad as he could. "You aren't going to leave me here. Are you?"

He silently cursed Chris when he faltered. He was. He intended to leave him here. "Well, I – "

"You can't. Don't leave me." Ezra was not above begging when it suited his purposes and this definitely suited his purposes very well.

"Chris, I think now would be a good time for us to go," Nettie suggested, eyeing Ezra cautiously.

"NO!" He kicked and screamed, but it was all for nothing. Chris looked upset to leave yet he left anyway. When all the energy had drained out of him Ezra went limp. He might have described his state as catatonic for all he moved. At lunch a woman attempted to get him to eat along with all the other children and it was only after she threatened to take him to the hospital and put an IV in him that he mustered enough energy to eat a few of the green beans on his tray.

"Why don't you have a bit more?" she suggested. So Ezra ate the rest of the green beans. "Don't you want to try something else?"

A nearby boy who had been observing them off and on immediately offered to give his green beans to Ezra, which prompted the woman to asked if Ezra would eat more green beans. He shook his head "no". It was true they were probably the most edible food they had been given, but he hadn't even wanted to eat them. The woman had sighed and given up, leaving him to drink the milk that had been given to him.

Ezra didn't play with the other children. He stared blankly at the wall doing absolutely nothing. He only ate a minimal part of his dinner and only that because he was forced. The woman had tried to tempt him into eating an ice cream sandwich for dessert along with all the other children – naturally he had refused. He was silently biding his time until they were all sent to bed, twelve children being packed into one room, and the lights were turned out. Mostly. There remained a glimmer of light from a sort of nightlight.

The time passed slowly, but when he had judged that he had waited long enough he crawled out of bed and crept to the door. "You aren't supposed to leave," a soft voice cut through the darkness. In each room there was a bathroom so that the children did not have to go far away to reach a bathroom, but Ezra was not headed in that direction, he was headed for the hallway door. "It's against the rules."

Ezra cast the boy a glance. He'd been the one that had so _unselfishly_ offered his vegetables to Ezra earlier. He gave him a quick smile. "Well, then, I'd best be quiet," he told him as he slipped out. For some reason he had the feeling that the boy wouldn't tell and if he did it wouldn't be until morning. Still, it would be best to be quick. He was forced to hide on several occasions when he heard the soft footsteps of people patrolling the halls, making sure that everything was all right. As his room was on the second floor, Ezra had to take the stairs down to the first floor to be able to get anywhere.

The doors, he was sure, were locked. That left windows.

His eyes widened as the sound of footsteps rapidly approach captured his attention. Hurriedly he dodged into the closest room and waited in silence until they had passed. Then he began to look around. He was in a sort of office-like room. With windows.

The first and second windows didn't budge, but the third did. With a triumphant gleam in his eyes he pried it open balanced on the ledge so that he could push it all the way shut again. He didn't like the drop, but it was necessary and he fell with as much grace and dignity as he could muster – none. He landed hard and had likely scrapped his knees. That was only trivial.

A glance around proved that he had chosen the wisest way out. The yard in back of the orphanage was sealed off by a high chain link fence and though he had a feeling he could have been able to climb it, he was glad he had managed to get out from a side where he was already outside of the fenced in area. With a sigh, Ezra realized that he was grateful that the orphanage was a lot closer to Chris's ranch than his previous location had been. He was uncertain whether he could have gone that far again.

It was only sheer determination that got him back to Chris's doorstop, where he once again rang the doorbell and allowed himself to collapse. He knew it was late, which explained why it took so long for Chris to reach the door. This time when he looked out he looked down first. "Ezra." He held up his arms and Chris immediately picked him up and took him inside. Before he fell asleep he heard Chris talking on the phone with, he presumed, Nettie. What was said, Ezra didn't know.

The next morning they had breakfast with no interruptions. No Nettie. Chris asked if he wanted to go to work with him and Ezra agreed immediately, though he secretly wondered what was going to happen. Had he been quite convincing enough? Would Chris agree to be his – his what? Legal guardian? What exactly had happened to his mother, anyway?

Ezra became unhappy when he realized he would be staying in the "daycare" area. Perfect. Exactly what he did not need. He went quietly, however, and allowed Chris to leave without a fuss. Then he waited for the right moment and made his escape. It wasn't hard – a few of the babies started crying and the daycare workers were forced to try to calm them down. He dodged through the hallways until he got to Team Seven's room. Well, it had been Team Seven's room. Ezra pushed the door open and peered inside. It looked almost the same as he remembered. Except his desk wasn't there.

"Whoa there little feller." Gawddamn Buck! He cast him a glare as he tried to edge his way around his desk. He didn't make it.

Chris burst out of his office and into the bullpen in a seeming panic. "He slipped off! Again! I don't know how – " Then he froze. "Ezra! How did you – never mind. Maybe I don't want to know." He scooped him up and then hesitated. "If I take you back, will you stay?"

"No." It was said firmly, brooking no arguments. When he saw Chris's eyes roll toward the ceiling he added quickly, "I can help."

"I'm sure you could, but it would be a lot more helpful for me if you were to stay with the daycare workers. Okay?"

Ezra's eyes narrowed. "No. I don't want to be there. I can help you."

At Chris's helpless look, Josiah said that he could keep an eye on Ezra since there wasn't a lot he had left to do anyway. Chris agreed, told Ezra to behave, and with one last worried look disappeared back into his office, presumably to call the daycare workers and assure them that Ezra had been found.

Each of the men introduced themselves – JD, Josiah, Buck, Nathan, and Vin. By the time they were finished with that, Chris had returned, obviously not trusting them to watch Ezra. He grabbed an extra chair and joined them. No one was doing any real work so it must have been a fairly slow day.

"So, what's your name?" Josiash asked.

Ezra raised his eyebrows. "Chris said it before. Ezra."

"What about your full name?" It was an attempt to get him to reveal his name, which apparently no one really knew. Chris had an interested look on his face so he decided to give in.

"Ezra P. Standish."

Buck grinned at him. "What's the 'P' stand for?"

Ezra turned his gaze in Chris's direction and said firmly, "Persistent." (1)

"Do you know what persistent means?" Josiah asked, chuckling softly, knowing the boy wasn't telling the truth.

"Of course. To be perseveringly obstinate, assiduous, indefatigable, pertinacious, tenacious, unrelenting –"

"You have quite the vocabulary there, son."

Ezra nodded curtly. "I wouldn't be as useful if I didn't." He realized he shouldn't have said it the moment after the words were out. The six men all straightened up and looked at him. Somehow he had fallen back into the frame of mind he had as a child. He was saying too much.

"What do you mean by that? How are you useful?" It was Chris that asked as he leaned forward to drag Ezra onto his lap.

He twitched uncertainly before finally offering the truth. "I can do lots of things. Pick locks, crack safes, count cards, pick out certain cards… but sometimes she comes back because she needs someone cute. To make her look harmless."

"To make who look harmless?"

Ezra wondered if he should tell. Did it matter? He was a child now, not their coworker, after all. "Mother. She'll be back eventually, when she needs me. So I have to be useful. Otherwise she wouldn't come back."

"What's your mother's name?" Nathan asked, having caught all the surprised looks. When they had discovered Ezra in the warehouse they had assumed his parents were dead. Perhaps they had been wrong.

"Maude."

"Maude Standish?" Josiah prompted.

He hesitated before shrugging. "I don't know." At the looks of disbelief Ezra got he added, "It changes a lot. Her maiden name is Standish, but… I can't remember what it is now. She remarries or uses a different name. It's sometimes safer that way."

"Safer? What does your mother do, Ezra?"

There was no nice way to put it. "Mother's a con artist. And a gambler. Usually… usually not a thief. When I open safes it's to get what she's owed, nothing more. Sometimes they don't want to pay up."

They were interrupted just then when the door opened, revealing Nettie, who paused in surprise at seeing Chris and Ezra both within the room. "It's all been settled, Mr. Larabee. He can stay with you for now and if you want to proceed further – we'll come to that later."

"His name is Ezra Standish. His mother's maiden name is Maude Standish, but she could be going under an alias as well."

Nettie's eyes widen. "Right. I'll see what I can come up with." They talked for a while more before she left to see what she could find out about Ezra and his family.

For the next week Ezra was showered with toys and clothing and everything a child could possibly have wanted. They managed a compromise and Ezra found himself in daycare, annoying as it was, but he had the option of calling Chris whenever he wanted and, possibly, if Chris wasn't busy, of going to his office to "talk with the guys." It was like a second childhood for Ezra and even for Chris – since Chris often had to show him how games and toys worked as Ezra had never played much as a child. Though he was still worried about what had happened and being in a child's body, he couldn't help but admit that he was having fun.

Then it happened. Nettie called and Ezra, who was supposed to be asleep, overheard. From Chris's side of the conversation it was all a bit too clear. "They found her then?" Pause. "What?" Pause. "We can't have him identity his mother's own body, no. Do they – " Pause. "Yeah. Are they sure?" Pause. "Damn. All right. Yeah." Pause. "Yes, of course." It ended there, but Ezra had already stopped listening.

Chris asked him the next day if Ezra wanted him to stay with him permanently, as his adopted son. In Nettie's search they had discovered that there was no father listed on Ezra's birth certificate and Maude had had no living relatives. Ezra had agreed and then asked, pointblank, if his mother was dead. He had not cried when Chris told him she was. He didn't ask for the details. It wasn't Ezra's mother, his mother was still alive somewhere, this wasn't his mother. Or was it? Had reality changed… or?

He yelped in pain as his head suddenly began to pound. He felt himself falling out of his chair and then… he was looking up into Chris's face. Only he was no longer a child. And it was very much awkward. "Mr. Larabee, if you kiss me I am going to have to punch you, boss or not." Ezra grunted as he was suddenly hugged by the normally stoic man.

"Ezra! You're back!"

Slowly, gingerly, he pried Chris's fingers off of him. "Might I inquire as to what happened?" A glance around showed that he was in Chris's living room and that the rest of Team Seven was there, as well.

"The doctor said that you had regressed for some reason," JD was the first to offer.

Nathan nodded in agreement. "Figured something had triggered a childhood memory and pulled you back for a while. We did everything we could to help you."

"Ah." Ezra blinked his eyes rapidly in surprise. Had it all been a dream? Sending himself back into his childhood to re-experience things, including his worst fear, his mother never being able to come back? "I hope I didn't say anything… too…" Ezra winced. "Detrimental."

"Don't worry, Ez, we'll tell you allll about it." For some reason Ezra very much disliked the wide grin on Buck's mouth. "You were one vicious, untrustworthy little kid. It was cute seeing the way you cuddled up to Chris, though. How you called him 'daddy'."

Ezra's face turned an instant red. "I did no such thing!" But the nods he received all around the room belied his words. He was sure he hadn't, very sure. He would not have called Chris 'daddy', ever! But, if it hadn't been him, then who?

#t#

The child Ezra had just returned to full awareness and had the words repeated to him, when he asked what had happened,that Chris had just told him thathis mother was dead and that Chris was going to try to adopt him. He'd grown fond of Chris, but he cried for the loss of his mother. Even though she had never been there much in his life, he loved her anyway. Still, he was glad to finally have someplace he could stay without every having to worry about having to move or to wonder who he would be dropped off with next.

That was how he had ended up in the warehouse in the first place. The people she'd sent him to hadn't wanted him andEzra had been forced to seek shelter elsewhere. Luckily, not long after that Chris and the others had stumbled across him and then he had met Nettie. He hadn't talked since then – mother had always told him to never tell anyone anything because they could use it against him. Especially social workers. When they had placed him in a foster home with that man, Ezra had thought he would never escape. Somehow he had ended up with Chris, though, and now Chris was adopting him.

Now he had something to look forward to.

-The End-

(1) In the episodes Ezra says that the "P" in his name stands for "persuasive", but "persistent" worked better with this fic. Most writers, if they mention Ezra's full name, put his middle name as Patrick.


	3. Ezra Version Two

The fans have spoken. Yes, I know I'm weak, but who am I to deny those that ask for more? "Please sir, could I have some more?" Well, I say yes! Yes indeed (except to the "sir" part, that's not quite right now is it? lol)! And since I already had it all outlined and was going to make it part of the previous ficlet (except that it didn't flow right so I decided to leave it out) it all works. On with the show!

Children Again: Child Ezra (in adult body) Version Two

by Ami-chan

"Nathan, quick!"

It had all happened so suddenly; one moment Ezra had been standing there looking slightly bored since their search hadn't turned up so much as a hair and then he was down. There'd been no gunshot, no attacker, he'd just collapsed. The word "stroke" rushed through JD's mind as he called for Nathan again. People stayed awake for heart attacks so it couldn't be that, but a stroke... and yet, Ezra was too young, too fit, but it'd happened before to other people, hadn't it? Of course, that was exactly it? It happened to "other people" so it couldn't be happening to Ezra! Could it?

An ambulance had been called while Nathan checked Ezra – vitals were all normal, he said, and there appeared to be nothing wrong with him. Except that he was unconscious. "Exhaustion?" Vin had asked, but Nathan had only shook his head and suggested they wait until Ezra had been checked over by experts.

The search of the warehouse was abandoned, Chris taking the option of riding in the ambulance with Ezra – being team leader had its perks. Everyone else piled into the vehicles they had taken and drove to the hospital. They all hoped for good news. Chris met up with the others in the waiting room and had no more information than they had before. The doctors were all as baffled as Nathan had been. No signs of head trauma, stroke, or anything, but still Ezra was unresponsive.

Then a nurse appeared, looking somewhat alarmed as she hurriedly said, "Mr. Larabee, there's been a bit of a problem. Will you come with me please?" She glanced around at the other five men, men that she knew all too well from prior experience, and added, "Perhaps all of you should come."

Though they were all worried and uncertain exactly what was going on, they followed silently. If it was really bad news then they didn't want to be in a hurry to get it. Even Buck was so distressed that he didn't even attempted to hit on the nurse who certainly would have been considered his type.

When they entered one of the rooms the first thing they saw was a doctor and a nurse standing very still near the door and watching something that they couldn't see because of the angle of the hospital bed. There was no one in the bed itself. "What's going on?" Chris demanded when no one offered an immediate explanation.

"Your agent appears to be disoriented," the doctor said, her eyes distractedly observing the corner of the room. "Rather violently so. He woke abruptly and was rather distressed – he pushed us away before we knew what was happening, ripped out the IV and…" She pointed helplessly and Chris moved to see what she was looking at.

It was Ezra, huddled in the corner, glaring at them with a mixture of fear, confusion, and perhaps even a bit of hatred. "We were hoping," the doctor continued, "That you, one of you, would be able to get through to him so that we can continue our examination. It's not as if this is the first time it's happened, what with his occupation and all, but I've never seen him nearly as… unapproachable and never violent. Confused, yes."

Chris nodded absently, tuning out her words as he began to walk toward Ezra. Normally he wouldn't have bothered with a slow approach, yelling at Ezra usually shook him out of his confusion, but for some reason he found himself seeing Ezra not as his calm and cool agent, but as a skittish – what? A child? Ezra was certainly looking at him with a wide-eyed and not altogether certain expression, as if Chris were a complete stranger. "Hey, it's all right." Even that assurance was ignored; Ezra didn't believe him. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, backing away and turning back to the doctor.

"From what we saw? Nothing. As far as we can tell he's in perfect health, except that he's rather confused. It might take him a while to come back to himself, though I will admit he's never reacted quite this badly after waking before." She shook her head helplessly. "We tried to tell him that he was safe here, that we knew who he was, but he doesn't want to believe us."

While they were talking Buck attempted to approach the crouched figure - an ominous growl halted the man in his tracks and he backed away again. He tapped Chris on the shoulder and said, "Tag," making Chris roll his eyes. "Hey, he didn't growl at you. He might be little and up-to-date on his shots but I am certainly not in a hurry to get bitten by him."

Chris nearly asked why Buck thought that he would enjoy risking his own skin before finally deciding the argument wasn't even worth it. His undercover agent was... having issues and so he'd deal with them. And if Ezra did bite him he'd feel very guilty about it later and would be on his best behavior, which, if he was lucky, would include Ezra not conspiring with Vin for a while. Not that that would last for long, but maybe a week or so of not having to check to see if the sugar was really sugar or not finding realistic snakes and spiders in his desk would be nice.

He blinked down into wide green eyes that were staring at him almost fearfully. Ezra hadn't made a sound, but he seemed to be attempting to make himself as small as humanly possible. There was just something so completely wrong about seeing Ezra, cocky, proud, and confident cowering like a kicked puppy. Only kicked puppies looked less pitiful, Chris was sure.

It wasn't unexpected when Ezra bolted - or attempted to - and Chris caught him before he could go more than a few steps. It actually wasn't difficult; as soon as his hand caught Ezra around the waist all the energy went out of him and he waited, but for what Chris couldn't say. "It's all right Ezra." Green eyes looked up at him sharply, as if surprised. "Hey, there. You remember me, right?"

Ezra hesitated uncertainly. There was something about the look in his eyes that reminded Chris of a child, though he quickly shook that thought away; Ezra wasn't a child, just a rather confused man. "Come on, Ez. You're safe now, do you hear me?" There was a long pause and then, suddenly, Ezra pushed forward and into Chris's arms, cuddling up against him, trembling so violently that he shook Chris too.

"Awww, now isn't that cute?"

"Buck!" Chris growled as Ezra went immediately tense and nearly pulled away from him, his eyes fixed at some point over Chris's shoulder, presumably at Buck. It took several more minutes to get Ezra to calm down again. It was decided, after Ezra seemed very close to biting Buck when he tried once more to approach his friend that Buck not go near Ezra at all.

"I don't think he likes you, Buck," Chris had told him, a smirk decorating his face.

Buck had glared at him. "Well, I think you and Ez like each other a bit too much. Something you ain't tellin' us, pard?"

Chris had not been inclined to respond and Ezra, for his part, was not inclined to deattach himself from Chris. It was only after great effort that Chris managed to get Ezra to release him, sort of. In compensation for allowing Chris to breathe, Ezra was allowed to attach himself to Chris's arm. When the medical staff deemed it safe they attempted to speak to Ezra, who clearly wanted nothing to do with them. It was only at Chris's insistence that Ezra answered their questions.

"What's your name?"

"Ezra."

"Your full name?"

He looked up at Chris questionly then after his faint nod he continued slowly, "Ezra Patrick Standish."

"Do you know where you are?"

A faint shrug, then, "Hospital."

"Do you know why you're here?"

Pause. Blink. "I passed out?"

"What were you doing when you passed out?"

Ezra's next response brought stunned expression to all of the men crowded around, but at a safe enough distance so as not to disturb their confused friend - who was apparently more confused than they had guessed, "In the corner against the wall."

Seeing Chris's equally stunned expression the doctor pressed on, wanting more information, "What wall?"

"In the house."

"Whose house?"

"Foster parents."

The woman was floored for a moment, recovered quickly and asked, "How old are you, Ezra?"

His head tilted to one side, as if in surprise. "Four."

"Right. Right. Ezra, can I borrow Chris for a moment? You can have him right back, I promise. Just wait here, all right?" Her voice had changed abruptly from questioning an adult to a child and though Ezra looked uncertain, he allowed Chris and the others to be ushered away.

There was a sudden rush of words from the team members that had remained silent while observing Ezra. The doctor was silent until they had all talked themselves out and then, in their silence, said, "As I mentioned previously, there is nothing wrong with him. _Physically_. I have no explanation why he suddenly thinks he a child, though I would put forth the idea that something triggered a memory and now he's reliving it. A psychologist - a child psychologist at that - would be better qualified to deal with it and help him... come back to himself. In the mean time, someone is going to have to take care of him."

All eyes turned to Chris. "Guess that's me. Any recommendations for a child psychologist?"

"Yes. Dr. Will Lowery - I'll get his number for you. Until then, just... try to deal with Ezra as if he were four and see what the psychologist has to say about all of this."

It was surprisingly easy to get Ezra to go with Chris. With only minimal hesitation Ezra followed as nicely as could be, hopping into the backseat of Chris's truck without complaint. "Think you can handle it?" Buck had asked once Ezra was in the car, "Or do you need some help with this?"

"What and have you lose your hand? No, I can deal with children, though it is going to be odd dealing with an adult-child Ezra. Hell, I can't even imagine him being a child and yet - I dunno, he seems like a kid, but at the same time he's still Ezra."

"Let's hope this doesn't last too long, then. Don't forget to call the shrink, now!"

Chris nodded as he got into his truck, his attention immediately turning to Ezra. "You hungry?" No comment. Damn. Ezra hadn't been a very talkative child, had he? Then again, to Ezra they were virtually strangers. "Well, I'm starving. How about we head back to the ranch and I'll get us something to eat?" He was basically talking to himself, but Chris kept talking, thinking that at any moment Ezra was going to snap out of it and suddenly be himself again, demanding to know what was going on or otherwise complaining about something.

But the frightened childish look remained and the silence between them lingered. Was Ezra's previous wordiness just him making up for barely talking as a child? Not that Chris had any idea of these matters, not really, but he figured it was only natural to want to try to connect events up so that they made sense and the Ezra he knew rarely shut up. He was sorely missing that Ezra, too. Chris made a stop at Ezra's condo first and grabbed some of Ezra's more casual clothing so that he'd have something to wear.

Even after they ate Ezra seemed not to be interested in conversation at all, despite Chris's attempts. Chris wandered off for a bit, just long enough to call Dr. Lowery for an appointment after explaining the rather delicate situation. After their late lunch, after which they had spent many hours in silence watching the first child-appropriate tv station they had come across, Chris decided to fix a simple dinner and throughout it all Ezra remained quiet and watchful. Finally Chris asked if Ezra wanted to play a game. Very tenatively Ezra had looked up at him, for the first time showing signs of actual life and intelligence. "A game?"

"Yeah." He attempted to recall all of the children's games that might be suitable for a four year old - Adam's games that he had never been able to throw away. "How about Candyland?" Chris got a blank expression in return. "Or Chutes and Ladders?" It always had to be Chutes and Ladders, not the Snakes and Ladders version, damn scary snakes.

"Don't know how."

"Well, we'll have to remedy that, won't we?" With more enthusiasm than he thought possible, Chris found his way into the closet and dug out the old children's board games. He nearly choked on the layers of dust coating the games and had to wipe off the boxes before taking them back to the table where Ezra was patiently waiting. Had Ezra been so... inactive when he had really been a child? If so, he had been the world's easiest child to deal with. Or the world's hardest to get to do anything.

They played several of the games, all of which Ezra struggled to understand. More than once he proclaimed that the games were all ridiculous. Or, rather, as he pronounced it, "reedickuous". Chris managed not to even crack a smile at the - dare he even suggest it? - adore way in which Ezra mispronounced the word. The adult Ezra would have probably died if he'd uttered a word so incorrectly. Finally Ezra, frustrated with the games, asked, "Do you have a deck of cards?"

"What kind of cards?"

The question confused Ezra, who said, "Normal cards. A deck, you know, fifty-two cards with kings and queens and everything."

It took only a moment to locate (and dust off) a stashed away deck which he handed to Ezra, though what he wanted with them he hadn't a clue. Until Ezra had gotten his hands on them and began shuffling the deck. "You know how to play poker?"

As amazing as it seemed, Ezra then demonstrated his considerable skills at cards. A child that couldn't play Candyland, but excelled at poker. Again, Chris found himself wondering about Ezra's childhood. What sort of a mother had Maude actually been? "Where'd you learn how to play like that, huh?"

"Ma - mother taught." It was only a slight falter, but Chris caught it. Had Ezra been about to say, "mama" before correcting himself? What child called their mom "mother"? Most likely one who had been asked to use that term instead.

Chris soon decided that it was bedtime and settled Ezra into the guest bedroom. It was strange, but Chris at least could be glad that Ezra had not gone into this state any sooner or else he might not have been able to cope. Not that Ezra was anything like Adam; there were no similiarities at all. Chris fell asleep wondering just what the hell he had gotten himself into and when he woke - several minutes before his alarm even went off, as he usally did - he nearly trampled the figure curled up on the floor by his bed. It was surprising not only because Chris was a light sleeper and normally would have woken up at the slightest sound, but because he never would have excepted to find Ezra on the floor.

Green eyes stared up at him almost pleadingly, though what he was pleading for Chris had no idea. "Hey buddy, what are you doing down there?" Ezra flinched slightly when he touched his arm; Ezra was freezing. He shut the alarm off automatically when it went off then slid back into bed, tugging Ezra up off the floor and under the covers. "Did you have a bad dream?" Chris asked when Ezra had carefully snuggled up against him, seeking warmth.

Ezra shook his head no. "It was just too dark."

Ahh. "Next time wake me up, okay? You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor." The look Ezra gave him was one of disbelief. They got a late start that day, but it was all for the greater good - winning Ezra's trust was a difficult task and though Chris was sure he wasn't nearly there as far as the child was concerned, he had passed all of his tests so far. Ezra watched him as he fed the horses, always standing out of the way, silent.

Chris had already decided that he was taking Ezra into work. Even if it didn't do any good, it couldn't do any harm, either, and it might possibly spark some of Ezra's memories. That, and someone should explain to Travis why Team Seven's undercover agent would be taking a very necessary leave of absence. Again, Ezra rode in the backseat of the truck.

As soon as they entered the bullpen there was a chorus of questions, all asking after Ezra and Chris found the smaller man clinging lightly to his arm in fright when before Ezra had almost been acting normal, keeping a polite distance. But he was still a child. Seeing the effect they were having on Ezra, the others began to quiet down. "It's about the same as it was. We have an appointment with Lowery later and... I need to talk with Travis." Chris turned his attention to Ezra. "Can you stay here for a bit with the guys? I have some things to take care of and then I'll be right back." It was with great effort that Ezra released his hold on Chris. He felt incredibly guilty at the look of abandonment on Ezra's face, but leaving was necessary.

"Ezra, you want to come over here?" Ezra didn't and Josiah had to smile at the vaguely stubborn childish expression on the man's face. He made a mental note to ask Maude if she could bring pictures of Ezra as a child the next time she decided to show up for a visit. All of them, except Josiah, pretended to work as they all kept Ezra in their sights, Josiah watching him openly as he made his way to the one empty desk, his desk. It wasn't the computer that Ezra went for, though, it was a large folder that was filled with all the rules and regulations that they had to follow.

After watching Ezra apparently reading through the pages, Josiah went over to him and asked softly, so as not to startle him, "Can you read that?"

Ezra nodded slightly and began reading out loud, stumbling over some of the larger words but basically saying them correctly. Then he stopped, put the folder aside and reached for the dictionary that was also on Ezra's desk. Ezra was looking up a word. Could Ezra actually do this as a child or was this merely the result of the overlapping memories of the adult Ezra really was and the child that he had reverted to?

"You look up things in the dictionary often?"

Sharp green eyes gazed up at Josiah. "I've read the dictionary. I only look up things I don't know."

JD was unable to stop himself from blurting out, "What? You've read the dictionary? Why?"

There was a very childlike shrug from Ezra. "Some places there isn't much of a selection. Either the dictionary or the bible." It was apparent from his tone of voice that the dictionary was infinitely preferable.

"What places are those?"

Ezra didn't respond to that.

When Chris returned - there was relief written on Ezra's face at his appearance - JD cornered him and asked to see him in his office. Privately. He told Ezra he'd be right back and followed JD into his office, closing the door. "What's - "

"He's never been in foster care," JD said suddenly, before Chris could finish his question. He shoved a file full of papers into his arms. "I did a background check, nothing. What I did find is that Maude was nearly brought up on abandonment charges a number of times, but she always showed up days before they could officially file against her. He told us he'd been with his foster parents, but he's never had any. It shows that he lived with a number of relatives, most of which were not particularly happy about keeping him, thus the reason they were trying to get Maude charged with abandonment so that Ezra would be taken away from her... but, I thought it might help to know. For you and the doctor to - get to the bottom of this whole episode."

Chris stared at the papers and then at JD. "Thanks. This could be a lot of help."

"I hope so."

"Don't worry so much. Ez will be fine." He patted JD's shoulder as he moved past him and out of his office, wishing he felt as confident as he sounded. They did have to talk to the shrink first and get a better idea of what was going on inside Ezra's head.

That turned out to be easier said than done. Ezra became frighteningly unresponsive at the sight of Dr. Lowery, ignoring all suggestions that he could find something to play with and simply staring blankly at some undetermined spot. Chris was watching through a two-way mirror at the lack of progress and finally, Dr. Lowery asked, "Would you rather have Chris in the room with us?" and Ezra, for the first time since entering the room, looked up and nodded. "I'll be right back." Chris met him half way.

"What should I do?"

"Getting him to talk would be a good start."

Chris entered the room first and found Ezra staring at him silently. "Ez, don't you want to talk to Dr. Will?" Ezra shook his head no. "No? Then how about we play for a bit? It looks like there are some legos here." Ezra watched him, but didn't move even when Chris brought a container filled with legos over.

Finally Ezra's curiousity got the better of him and he took out one of the legos and studied it before asking, "What do they do?"

"You've never played with legos before? Here, look at this. See, they snap together and you can make things out of them." Ezra began snapping the legos together, cautiously at first, and his creation started to take the shape of a building.

"It looks like you're building a house. Is that what it is?" Dr. Lowery asked.

Ezra glanced at him as if offended that he had even considered asking such a thing before replying, "No, it's a casino."

"A casino? Why are you making a casino?"

He shrugged. "Where mama is." Then he stopped for a moment before correcting, "It's where mother is."

"What does your mother do at the casino?"

"She plays the high-stakes games. You have to risk a lot to get a lot. But I can't go. They don't let kids into casinos. When I'm older I'll be able to go, too."

"Where do you go when your mother's away?"

Another shrug. "Anywhere. Relatives, friends, anyone who will take me."

"Does she usually leave you with them long?"

"Usually. Until they complain."

After a pause, in which Dr. Lowery noticed that every once in a while Ezra would look up at Chris, as if checking to make sure he was still there. "Do you remember the first time you met Chris?" At his affirmative he asked, "Can you tell me about it?"

"It was at the warehouse."

The doctor saw the surprise on Chris's face. "What were you doing at the warehouse?"

"Staying."

"Staying? Do you mean you were visiting the warehouse or... living in the warehouse?"

Two more legos snapped into place. "I guess I was living there."

"Weren't you staying with relatives?"

Ezra's eyes darkened. "They were bad. So I left."

"Were they mean?"

Ezra glanced up, a frown on his face. "Mean is okay. I'm used to that... but... they were worse."

"What did they do that was worse than mean?"

He shut down, shaking his head.

"All right, so let's go back. You met Chris at the warehouse. What was he doing there?"

Green eyes flickered toward Chris. "Looking for the drug runners."

"And then he found you?"

A nod. "I tried to hide, but I wasn't fast enough. Then they took me to the home."

"What happened after that?"

"They placed me in foster care because they couldn't find mother. They weren't very nice, though. Then I blacked out."

"Why did you black out?"

Ezra blinked at him as if asking, 'Don't you already know?' "He slammed me into the wall."

"Who did?"

"One of my foster parents. Tom."

"Did he do that often?"

A nod. "He wasn't nice." There was a pause in which a few more legos were added to the small creation. "Usually I didn't black out, though." Ezra raised his hand to his forehead, wincing as he rubbed at his temple.

"Does your head hurt?"

Another nod.

Their session didn't go much farther and Dr. Lowery had a private word with Chris while one of his assistants kept an eye on Ezra. It was apparent that Ezra was reliving a part of his childhood in which he'd suffered some kind of abuse, though the real-life records never showed Ezra having stayed in a warehouse at all, that didn't mean it hadn't happened. It was possible that he had rewritten his childhood memories to include Chris, who, in this new memory was the person that had rescued him in his greatest need. Every child needed a hero, especially in that sort of a situation, and Chris had become his, perhaps echoing the adult Ezra's respect for Chris. There would be more sessions to try to work out more of the details and in the details, somewhere, they might recover Ezra himself.

Chris asked if it would be wise to contact Maude, Ezra's mother and if that would do more harm than good. Dr. Lowery said that it might help for Ezra to see her and so Chris set about attempting to find her. As it turned out, that was a fruitless effort as Maude was overseas and where, exactly, no one was entirely sure.

"Just you and me, kid," Chris muttered to himself as he took Ezra back to the ranch with him.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, the only "big" thing being Ezra's response to Chaucer, his horse. Chaucer had demanded his attention, spoiled horse that he was, and Ezra had hesitantly approached him. There hadn't been any real recognition on his part, but they had reacted to each other like old friends and that, Chris decided, was a good sign.

That night Chris was jolted out of his sleep by the feeling of eyes upon him and sure enough, there was Ezra, peering at him silently looking ready to flee if he saw his presence wasn't welcome. "Come on, Ez," he managed to say, flipping back the covers in clear invitation. It would have seemed odd - perhaps should have seemed odd - but at the same time it felt very natural. This was a child (even if he really wasn't a child) who needed affection.

It didn't take much for Ezra to curl up against him this time. Had he been a cat, Ezra would have been purring. Chris dropped back into sleep and caught a few more hours sleep until Ezra's twitching woke him up again. Though Ezra made no audible sound it was apparent by his unrest that his dreams were not pleasant and because of that Chris shook him awake. Half asleep, Ezra murmured, "Daddy?" which was the last thing Chris would have thought he would have said. As far as Chris knew, Ezra didn't have a "daddy". The word was repeated and then green eyes became fully awake and alarmed.

"You miss your daddy?" Chris asked him gently, not wanting to further frighten him.

Tears sprang suddenly to Ezra's eyes before he buried his face into Chris's arm. "I don't have a real daddy, but one of my mother's husbands was really nice. He let me call him that."

Chris tried to sooth him and though his efforts only seemed to help marginally it didn't stop him. "I bet you want to see him now, don't you?"

Ezra gave him an odd, pleading look, and told him, "It doesn't matter. I... I like it here better."

It was like stabbing himself to make the offer, but one look at Ezra found him saying, "I wouldn't mind if you started calling me 'daddy'. If you want to."

There was again that surprise that burned in Ezra's eyes before he pressed himself closer to Chris. There was something heartbreaking about the way he whispered the word, "Daddy." It occurred to Chris that if Ezra remembered any of this he would die from the embarrassment alone, assuming he did not kill Chris first.

Two more days, two more sessions with Dr. Lowery. All they really managed to uncover was that Ezra had experienced a great deal of abuse, though the full extent of it was unknown; there were certain things that Ezra would not address at all. It was on Saturday that the whole team got together at Chris's house. The idea hadn't been all the appealing to Chris, particularly because Ezra's normal reaction to Buck was not in any way friendly. In fact, terrified would have been more adequate a term. In the sessions with Dr. Lowery Ezra had alluded to the fact that one of his abusers resembled Buck and Chris was torn between wanting to trigger those memories and hopefully recover Ezra to the present, and not wanting to further traumatize child-Ezra.

The situation got that much worse when, to Chris's annoyance, JD came armed with his camcorder and Vin with his digital camera, both of them ready to capture every moment for all eternity. Buck was especially delighted at the few times Ezra called Chris "daddy" and he asked after each time if JD had captured it on film. He was just waiting for Ezra to "snap out of it" so that they could show him the footage because to them it was only a matter of time before Ezra was back to "normal". There was no mention of him not being able to regain his memories even though to some degree they understood that that was a possibility.

One of Josiah's favorite moments was when Ezra fell asleep on Chris's shoulder. He said that he'd never seen Ezra so relaxed and that he liked that side of their undercover agent. There was a small hope that Ezra wouldn't be so distant after it was all over. Though, it would likely be worse for a while, what with Vin and JD's efforts.

They were just about to call it a day - Ezra had woken up, but it was obvious that he was not entirely awake - when Ezra jerked suddenly and clutched at Chris before he dropped like a stone. Chris hovered over him in concern and was about to suggest another trip to the hospital when Ezra's eyes opened. Though he couldn't say how, Chris immediately knew something was different, that Ezra was back even before he carefully and calmly drawled, "Mr. Larabee, if you kiss me I am going to have to punch you, boss or not."

Perhaps it had everything to do with the stress Chris had experienced looking after and worrying about Ezra or maybe he felt closer to him after having learned more about Ezra's past, but whatever it was caused Chris to hug his agent. It took Ezra's tugging at his fingers for Chris to release him again. The rest of the team was only too happy to inform Ezra of what happened and the look of horror on Ezra's face was priceless - even more so because JD had his camera on to film it all. Ezra still didn't believe Buck when he had dared to suggest that Ezra P. Standish would ever _ever_ call his boss 'daddy' until he saw the tape. They had never heard Ezra swear so much until that day. He would have destroyed the evidence (and JD's camcorder) had he been able to get his hands on them. Vin's pictures weren't any better, but Vin knew enough not to let Ezra anywhere near his camera. Not that Vin would do anything with the pictures... other than possibly make them into Christmas cards or posters to put around the office...

"Well as least you aren't shying away from me anymore."

The statement, said pretty much out of the blue, made Ezra frown up at Buck. "Whatever do you mean? Why would I have been shying away from you?"

They all exchanged looks. "You told the doctor that there was a 'mean man' that sort of resembled me and that you didn't like me because of that."

Ezra had looked utterly confused. Then, sudden fear entered his eyes. "Doctor? What kind of doctor?"

"A child psychologist."

Ezra had been horrified at that. "You took me to a psychologist? How could you! God, what did I say?" His eyes turned accusingly to Chris, who tried in vain to redirect him. Finally Chris hinted at the fact that Ezra's childhood and been questionable and that the doctor had suggested that Ezra had regressed so completely because of deeply repressed memories that had been triggered by the warehouse.

"The warehouse? Why the warehouse? What - what does that have to do with anything?"

"You told Dr. Lowery that you had to runaway from a relative's house because they were 'bad' and that you stayed in a warehouse."

He stared blankly into space for several long moments. "But I... no. I never - I mean, that was - it wasn't _real_. It was, well, I don't know what it was. Like a dream or - or an alternate reality or - it couldn't have actually happened." Doubt appeared on his face as Ezra looked around at the faces of his friends. Was it possible that what Ezra had experienced before had only been some past memory surfacing and being slightly rewritten to include Chris and the others? Had he, in fact, been an adult thinking he was a small child even though he was really still an adult? Then why the strangers and the strange house? A figment of his imagination when he had blacked out and been rushed to the hospital?

Or was it something else entirely.

-The End- (for real this time)


End file.
